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My Week in Westminster

London was extremely busy with the official visit of President Donald Trump.

While he is a controversial character and people have very different views on him, I think we must not forget we were also hosting the office of the President of the United States of America – our biggest ally in the world.

The US is already our biggest trading partner; our business together is worth some £190 billion per year and has grown by 70 per cent in the past decade.

President Trump met with 10 leading UK and US companies that employ around 176,000 people. We must not forget British companies employ more than one million people in the US, and around one million people in the UK work for US companies.

Among President Trump’s Royal visits and meetings with Government, we must also not lose sight of the fact that he was here to mark the 75th anniversary of the D Day landings.

While it is everyone’s right to protest, I did not want to see anything taken away from this poignant anniversary as we remember those who gave everything back then for us today.

The D Day landings were a phenomenal achievement – the biggest seaborne invasion in history. The sacrifice of all those soldiers who perished in the war, and of their families, must never be forgotten.

At the time of writing, the UK has so far gone 424 hours straight without using coal-powered energy. I’m delighted to see this Government’s green agenda start to bear fruit.

Last year renewables generated a record amount of electricity, generating 37.1 per cent of the UK’s electricity in the last quarter of 2018, up from 6.1 per cent from 2010. That figure will no doubt increase further as we continue to lead the world on environmental matters.

I write this column ahead of watching the team from BAE Systems take part in the annual Macmillan House of Lords v House of Commons Tug of War competition. Last year the BAE team won the event and I’ll be supporting them once again – it is all for a good cause, raising plenty of money for Macmillan.

I believe Warton had a fantastic carnival last weekend and I hope the event becomes a firm annual fixture in our gala calendar. This weekend it’s Kirkham Club Day and I hope everyone enjoys the occasion.